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Monday, August 15, 2011

Start of Lim’s Malay dilemma

Start of Lim’s Malay dilemma

There is a Malay leadership vacuum in Penang as the DAP's domination of the state's politics leaves its Malay partners struggling to appease the larger Malay ground out there.

MALIK Kassim's office is up in the sky on the 53rd floor of Penang's Komtar. It has a glorious view of the channel which shimmers like silver in the mid-morning light, and a less glorious view of the rather shabby rooftops of old George Town. But you do not want to be up there if you are afraid of heights or, worse, if there is a big earthquake over in Sumatra.

Somewhere down below, amid the rooftops, is an urban swiftlet farm that has been giving the authorities a massive headache and driving businessmen in the area nuts. Up to three years ago, DAP would have been championing the swiftlet operators. But the shoe is now on the other foot and the DAP-led Government is under pressure to clamp down on them.

However, that does not compare to the giant headache Malik is going through. As one of only two Malays in the 10-man state exco, he is struggling to meet Malay expectations in Penang. Almost every month, there is some sort of Malay protest against Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as well as Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Mansor Othman and Malik, the two PKR men in the Government.

The wildly flamboyant Ghani Jiman, who heads Suara Anak-Anak Malaysia, has become known as the notorious king of protests in Penang.

Politics in a small place like Penang tends to get personal and nasty, and Ghani has resorted to calling Lim the “Lee Kuan Yew of Penang” and likened Malik's high-pitched voice to a duck's quack, taunting him as “Malik Itik”.

Ghani, who dresses like the Bollywood version of the TV villain J.R Ewing of Dallas, often entertains reporters by imitating the way Malik speaks, falsetto, hands flapping in the air and all. These groups also refer to Malik as “Lim Ma Lik”, inferring that he is too close to Lim Guan Eng.

Dr Mansor is harder to caricature because he is a serious man with a rather flat personality. But he is “Mansor Tabek” (salute) to his detractors, meaning that he kowtows to Lim.

While Lim is still enjoying a Chinese honeymoon, his Malay political partners are struggling to contain the Malay ground. And whereas the Chinese saw Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon as a lackey of Umno, the Malay leaders in the Pakatan Government are now perceived as lackeys of DAP.

Malik, to his credit, has taken all of it in his stride. He is actually a rather pleasant and sincere man thrust into a job that requires dealing with very demanding Malay interest groups and some pretty fierce and tough characters.

The Malay NGOs are only part of Malik's woes. His most formidable opponent is still Umno which has the lion's share of the Malay-majority seats in Penang with 11 assemblymen. PKR and PAS have only four Malay assemblymen between them.Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that the Malay voice has shrunk in the state where Chinese make up 46% of the population and Malays 44%. To compound the matter, Lim rose to the top on the strength of his reputation of championing Chinese issues and running down Umno.

Penang Malays are unsettled about their place in the political landscape and feel their interests have been de-prioritised.

There is some sort of Malay leadership vacuum in Penang. Hence, the mushrooming of groups claiming to be the voice of the Malays.

One of the groups, Pajim or Persatuan Anak Jati Melayu, had been enthusiastic about the new government back in 2008.

“My family is Umno but I was so disappointed with Pak Lah, I voted for Jeff Ooi in Jelutong. I had so much hope on DAP,” said Pajim advisor Ahmad Mokhtar Muhammad, a British-trained quantity surveyor.

But Pajim's love affair with Pakatan was short-lived. Barely a year later, it was protesting against what they claimed to be Lim's unfair policies for the Malays. Pajim makes no bones about its stand on Malay rights and was disappointed with Lim's statement just days after taking office that his administration was not for NEP-type policies.

The second blow was Jelutong MP Ooi's dismissal of an Islamic NGO as “religious extremists” for advocating the full adoption of syariah law.

The last straw was when Malay stalls in a popular market were demolished during Ramadan in 2009. Ahmad Mokhtar, who claimed that Pajim's membership overlaps with that of PAS, is as angry with Lim as he is with PAS which, he said, failed to defend Malay and Muslim interests in Penang. He is also upset that the Chief Minister has spurned Pajim's requests for a meeting.

They are racist. I am willing to engage with anybody but not racists. They object when I promote Chinese in government but when I promote Malays, it's okay. What is there to talk (about) with people like this? They are completely unreasonable,” Lim charged when asked about the matter.

Attack mode

For Lim, attack is the best form of defence and, honestly, you do not want to be there when he is in attack mode.

The State Government's most quoted defence on Malay issues is that more than half of state government contracts went to Class F Bumiputera contractors in 2009. The open tender system, said Malik, shows that Malays are learning to operate on a level playing field.

Tahir Jalaluddin Hussain, president of the Penang Class F Contractors Association, said contractors now did not need to go through Umno divisions to get jobs and that the authorities did not entertain contactors holding multiple licences.

“Everyone has an equal chance. It is better for guys like me who are not well-connected,” he said.

But Malay issues in Penang are about more than just contracts, and Lim's team is fond of dismissing issues raised by Malay groups as Umno-instigated even though there are few Malay politicians who were or are not part of Umno. Even Malik used to be a key figure in Umno's Tanjong division.

Umno's hold over the Penang Malays is not what it used to be but it is still big. Umno has helped a lot of Malays over the years and it has a substantial base of hardcore Malay support. The PKR and PAS Malay hardcore is nowhere near that of Umno's and they are banking on the Malay swing group.

This is where the Malay NGOs can make a difference. They are part of the so-called third force and the issues they take up will have an impact on the swing vote.

This is also why PKR's Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yussoff has come out swinging against the state's approval of high-end development in his constituency which is affordable to mainly non-Malays. Balik Pulau is the last Malay bastion on the island. As such, Malays there are uneasy about the changes.

All the three state seats in Yusmadi's parliamentary area are held by Umno big-guns one is a former deputy chief minister, another is the current political secretary to a minister and the third is a veteran Umno assemblyman. Yusmadi is standing on quicksand because he won the seat by only 708 votes. He cannot blindly defend the development because he needs Malay support.

A Malay NGO to watch out for is the PMC led by people who have quite well-thought-ideas about issues affecting Penang Malays.

“We aim to be stronger than any other Malay political party in Penang,” stated PMC president Rahmad Isahak.

Rahmad as well as PMC secretary Mohd Noor Mohd Abdul Kader and treasurer Mohd Faisal Mohd Abdul Kader all speak perfect English. In fact, Mohd Noor also speaks fluent Penang Hokkien and could easily give some lessons to his Johor-born Chief Minister who speaks the stilted southern-style Hokkien.

The group is particularly critical of people demonstrating after Friday prayers and see it as an abuse of the mosque.

“We gain nothing from street protests. The holy Prophet did not demonstrate once in his life,” Rahmad claimed.

He said it was wrong of Ghani to use reptiles and women's undies to humiliate people or to resort to name-calling like “itik” and “biawak”. He is equally critical of Malik and Dr Mansor and had asked Malik, whose portfolio includes religion, to resign as the state exco for trying to introduce elections in mosque committees.

“They are not capable of representing the Malays. Instead of playing politics, they should be looking into affordable housing for Malays. That is the No.1 issue for Malays in Penang. People who live on the island should not have to go all the way to the mainland to buy an affordable house,” said Rahmad.

PMC also gave advance warning that it will be contesting four to five seats in the general election although some suspect that this may be the group DAP is cultivating as its Malay face in the coming election.

Incidentally, PMC is only open to “real Malays”. Indian Muslims or what Rahmad calls “mamak Tanjong” are not welcome. They want to distance themselves from the antics and the likes of Ghani.

He said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would not be eligible as a member even if he was born in Penang. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak can join but he has to reside in Penang for at least 10 years and they would like to check his birth certificate first, if you don't mind. As for Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, they have checked him out and he qualifies.

And some people thought Penang was a boring place!

Malay scepticism of the DAP-dominated government is much more serious than Lim cares to admit. Many of the issues they raise are legitimate and all too real. The Malay problem has been around since the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu's time. The living Lim fancies himself as the “next Chong Eu” but the way he has snubbed these groups gives the impression that he does not need their support.

Actually, his party can survive without the Malay vote. Apparently, 65% of the registered voters in Penang are non-Malays and he knows this group will carry him through. He probably wants his first term to be about standing up to the Malays although Ahmad Mokhtar claimed that “he just wants to be the great Chinese hero.”

The next general election is likely to see DAP dominating the Chinese seats and Umno commanding the Malay-majority ones. Lim will still be Chief Minister but he will probably find it even more challenging than it is now. Lim's Malay dilemma is just starting.

- The Star

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